PostedAugust 1, 2022, 2:35 PM
BalkansKosovo Serbs dismantle their barricades
Calm seems to be gradually returning to Kosovo. After the suspension of administrative measures, the Serbs began to remove trucks blocking two border crossings.
NATO soldiers deployed in Kosovo observed the departure of trucks blocking access to a border post.
AFP
The Serb minority in Kosovo dismantled on Monday the barricades erected in the north of the territory following the postponement, by Pristina, of measures which it considers vexatious, the latest bout of tension in the former Serbian province. According to an AFP correspondent, protesters removed trucks and other heavy vehicles that had been blocking access to a border crossing with Serbia since Sunday in an atmosphere heavy with dissension. The dismantling of the barricades paralyzing a second border post was still in progress at the beginning of the followingnoon.
Kosovo police said they were fired upon four times, with no casualties, and reported “ill-treatment” suffered by Albanian-speaking Kosovars. Belgrade has never recognized the independence proclaimed by Kosovo in 2008, a decade following a bloody war that left 13,000 dead, mostly Albanian speakers. Since then, the region has been the scene of episodic frictions.
This new outburst of violence follows Pristina’s decision to impose new administrative and border rules on the Serbs. Under the measures, which were due to come into effect on Monday, Kosovo authorities were providing temporary residence permits to people entering Kosovo with a Serbian identity card.
Principle of reciprocity
Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti invoked the principle of “reciprocity”, since Belgrade imposes the same regime on Kosovars entering Serbia. Pristina had also given Kosovo Serbs two months to replace Serbian license plates on their vehicles with Republic of Kosovo plates. According to local media estimates, 10,000 vehicles circulating in Kosovo carry plates issued by Belgrade.
“I try to survive and educate the children so that they can run away from here as far as possible.”
Under pressure from Western powers, and in particular from the United States, a great ally of Kosovo, Pristina announced on Sunday evening the postponement of the entry into force of the new measures for a month, until September 1. NATO forces deployed in Kosovo had warned that they “would intervene if stability was compromised”.
The 120,000 Kosovo Serbs, around a third of whom live in the north of the territory, do not recognize the authority of Pristina and remain loyal to Belgrade, on which they depend financially. “I will stay on the barricades as long as necessary, because I am not a coward and, for me, Serbia is a mother”, explained on Sunday, on condition of anonymity, an economist working for a company financed by Belgrade.
Everyone does their “thing”
But like many other Kosovo Serbs, he is disillusioned. “Pristina is doing its thing, Belgrade is doing its thing and people here and there have no bread to eat. I try to survive and educate the children so that they can escape from here as far as possible.
The latest episode of tension dates back to last September, following Pristina’s decision to ban Serbian license plates. For several days, two border posts had been blocked.
(AFP)